When Hubby and I got married we knew that we wanted to raise our family in church. Following Christ and building our faith is a major part in our belief system. Hubby and I were married in a mega church here in the area. We followed the mega church when they moved, but it was easy to see that we couldn't stay. It was just too "mega" for us. Hubby came from a smaller church background so we decided as a couple to start looking for another church home.
We found another Baptist church not too far away and felt like it was a good fit. The pastor was warm and friendly and he hails from the "land of Gar" (my hometown). We met some great people in a Sunday school class. People in the same stage in life. It wasn't too much on the traditional side, but it was at that time. It was there that I had attended my firt Maundy Thursday service.
Our comedy of errors starts whenever we walk down the aisle to join the church. When we decided to join this church the pastor met us at the end of the aisle. He asked, "How do you come to us today?" Hubby says, "Fine". Now for those of us who have joined a church or two in our past we know what the pastor is asking. He's asking if we come by:
(1)transfer of letter
(2)believer's baptism
(3)professing a new belief in Christ
After laughing a little, I jumped in and said we were joining by transfer of letter*. We were on our journey of building a faith and and foundation. We were active in our Sunday school class for quite some time. Until some other friends had gotten caught up in some political game and we let them influence our heart about the church. I look back and think how disappointing that whole episode was. We should have been objective. We should have given the benefit of the doubt. Our Sunday school class was falling apart and people were leaving left and right. On to the next church....
After a short stint at a church locally, we ventured out to another city to try and worship there. It was a very traditional church. It's a church calendar following, liturgical church. We walked down the aisle there and our comedic moment there was that when it came time take a family picture there the camera broke. The minister said he would get back with us and try to take another picture, but that never happened. That's okay. The drive there was a bit tedious. I'm not sure we really ever fit in. So, Hubby agreed to start visiting churches again.
We ventured out to other denominations, but that was a waste of time. Even other denominations were turning over to the contemporary side and it was a turn-off. We finally decided to try a baptist church that we had visited a few years earlier. They had been in some transition time earlier and now they had a new pastor. I was curious. Hubby finally agreed to visit. We've been visiting since early November. I was encouraged. Hubby really enjoyed listening to the pastor. Hubby said that this pastor has given some of the best sermons that he's ever heard. Bingo! We had found a baptist church that (1)offered a traditional service (2)had a Sunday school class that felt right (3)was close to home.
Finally. We reached the point when we were ready to join. We had told the kids that they were to just leave their stuff in the pew and we would go back for it. Hubby and I started down the aisle. The kids just stand there in the pew looking at us. I kept walking, Hubby stopped. I walked right into Hubby and there was a slight collision. After I compose myself we had to stop and tell the kids to come along. After we finally made it to the front the pastor met us and we expressed our intent. The man that took our information couldn't get our names right. He was trying to write our names on name tags and he couldn't hear worth anything. At one point I wanted to yank those stickers away and just write our names myself. Then Hubby was introduced to the crowd under his legal name. That threw us off a little bit, because even the lady that introduced us knows him by the name we call him.
We actually had a minor scare as the minister was introducing us. There was a wasp or hornet** buzzing around and it landed in the minister's hair. Right on top of her forehead. She never knew. There was another family that was being introduced and the minister had mentioned they were from Alabama. When we were in the receiving line, everyone kept asking if we were the ones from Alabama. I wish I had a sign with a picture of a hand with the finger pointing to the family next to me.
Hopefully, joining another church is behind us. It seems that the comedy of errors increases as we move churches. If I don't laugh about it, I cry. Just kidding. It's good to see that God has a sense of humor.
*We still laugh about that 13 years later.
**Don't know the difference, don't care. I don't like either one.
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